Spent most of my Saturday over in Tijuana with ma', making great quantities of tamalas: pork, chicken, cheese and peppers, and pineapple-cinnamon. We wrapped them up and froze them, ready to be put in the tamalera on Xmas Eve. The whole eating, present opening and partying happens on the 24th, which is pretty convenient, because then we cross the border Xmas morning to spend that day with family and friends in San Diego. My family mostly spends that day eating leftovers in their PJs, so not being around is perfectly acceptable.

Perhaps for the first time ever I'll be able to make and share some tamales of my own on the 25th. I plan to cook some on Saturday as an experiment, although we already have gingerbread men baking planned for that day. Might be too much to even think of making a pound of masa, a tiny amount by any Mexican cook's standard, but still we're talking tamales here. Is there another Xmas food that takes as much time and can be so thoroughly fucked up?

There is also the possibility of pozole, but that is going to have to be on my mom's shoulders this year. No way am I crossing the border again until the 24th. It took me 2 hours to get through.

I don't know exactly how I feel about last night's episode. It had a lot of stuff that I adored, while at the same time the writing kept throwing in stuff that made me cringe. I'm going to let it simmer for a while and not rewatch for a long time, maybe until the S5 DVDs come out.

Speaking of DVDs, thanks to razielsoul I have a shinny new set of S4 DVDs. This weekend might involve some marathon viewing of my favorites, as I plan out food shopping and cooking for the next week.

Tax season is starting, so at home this means I take over all food planning and preparation, break out the bento boxes and try to keep both me and Mr. L healthy until April 15th. I made mole this morning for our lunches, using the paste that I bought in Tlaquepaque. I really like this Oaxaca brand, Mayordomo, and will probably buy more online once I figure out the best place to place an order. According to my mom, the local Tijuana open air market (Mercado Hidalgo) has smaller name brands of Oaxacan chocolate, which I haven't tried, but I tried their pinole and it was amazing. It makes me hopeful for other yummy stuff that I can't get at my local Mexican markets in San Diego.